lettuce nudibranch......help

[floatingfish]

i just purchased a 1" lettuce nudibranch with the information from the LFS that it would just graze on algae with no problem. i did some research and found some sites that say they have a light requirement and only eat Bryopsis Algae. Does any one have experience with these. what can i do to feed him and what lights do i need. Thanks

[fishfingers]

Hey mate, I'll help you out as best I can. From what I've read, one websites says that they do only seem to eat bryopis, but another (and seemingly more scientific) website claims they eat the following:

Juvi:
Bryopis
Derbesia

Adult:
Penicillus capitatus
Caulerpa verticillata
Some forms of Halimedia
And I assume the same ones as above

I must stress though I'm only quoting websites I've never kept one personally. I think most people get them to get rid of pest algae, then the nudibranch usually dies due to starvation. I'm also not sure if you'd be able to feed him any substitutes as most nudibranchs are very specialist feeders.

As far as lighting goes, this seems to be due to it inducing the chloroplasts from algae and incorportating it into it's tissue (which explains why it needs to photosynthesize). If this is the case, I'm assuming it wouldn't need strong lighting due to the fact algae doesn't need strong lighting. However this is merely a guess.

I got this information from these sites (but I'm assuming you've already seen them):
http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=2143
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/lettu...udibranch.html
http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=12310

I hope someone whos actually kept the species can give you some more helpful information.

[Scuba Kid]

I did have one once, and it seemed to do a good job cleaning up the pest algae all over our liverock, but it disappeared after not too long. I'm sure it died, but I wasn't 100% sure why, probably starvation. That's the last time I'm going to keep a nudibranch. Most are too specialized to be properly kept, although I see the lettuce nudibranch regularly.

[Damon]

http://melevsreef.com/id/lettuce_nudibranch.html

[flamingo]

The problem with lettuce's is the fact that they all aren't alike. I've read stories of individual characteristics- some would only eat algae off the sides, some would only eat hair algae, bryopsis, etc. One person's will only eat hair algae- while a different person in the same thread had her's die in a tank filled with it.

Good luck with it, never personally kept one, but i've been tempted to.

[leveldrummer]

i have a couple in my tank right now, put them in with the hopes they will eat bryopsis, they are doing a decent job, they are reported to eat hair algae too, but for other info im not so sure, if you have bryopsis, id toss a couple in there, if your just wanting a cool pet, i would skip any of the nudibranchs and most of the slugs. just too specialized.